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WGC CADILLAC MATCH PLAYMay 2, 2015Gary WoodlandSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA CANDACE REINHEIMER: Gary Woodland in the interview room. Gary finished 5 & 3 on the course today. Tell us a little bit about your round. GARY WOODLAND: Yeah, this afternoon was great. I got off to a good start. I drove it well. When I do that out here, I'm going to have a lot of birdie chances. Also made some putts. When he was a little bit inside of me, I made some longer putts early in the round, birdying four of the first five. I got off to a hot start. And he gave me a hole with a bogey. So 5‑up through 8. And from then I kept the pressure on. I drove it well, hit a lot of iron shots. I gave him one hole on 10. But outside of that I played real well. Q. It looks like you're going through a match with Rory. This may not be the semifinal match America was anticipating. But would you explain why that's going to be an exciting match and why America is going to want to watch it? GARY WOODLAND: Because I'm in it (laughter). You know, it's been like that before. I remember being at the World Cup in 2011 and people saying, you know, America didn't have the best team there. That fuels me, that's fine. That's one of the best weeks I've ever played that week, too. I'm playing well right now, I'm excited about tomorrow. It doesn't matter who's in front of me, you just show up. I haven't seen the bracket. I keep showing up and trying to beat who is in front of me. Q. You had some easy matches or some matches where you played good golf, and you've had scrappy matches. How is it that match play has come around so easy to you. The? GARY WOODLAND: Match play really sets up really well for my game. I make a lot of birdies. And a big number doesn't cost me in match play. I wasn't‑‑ the first time I played match play on Tour was 2012. I was just coming off the swing change with Butch. And I played Charl Schwartzel and I got thumped pretty good. Last year was one of the better rounds I played in a long time. I learned a lot from last year's match with Graeme. I was 3‑up with 3 to go, and I took the foot off the pedal. You do that against him and he came back and beat me. That was a hard loss for me. I was frustrated but learned a lot from it. I'm pedal to the metal every round up here, every hole. Never giving anybody any hope is the key. And fortunately this week I've done that all week. Q. The winner will have to play at least seven matches in six days or five days, I guess. Is fatigue a factor for you right now, and how much do you think conditioning actually is playing into this event more than a regular stroke play event? GARY WOODLAND: I like that part of it because I feel I'm in pretty good shape. I train hard. The key out here, especially with the weather, you have to stay hydrated and food in your body. You try to get off the golf course as quickly as you can. It was nice. I got Tony Navarro on the bag, as well, trying to get him out and get his legs up for the night as well. It was nice to play well and get done early today. Tomorrow is another marathon. I slowed down this afternoon, I walked a little slower, focused on breathing, trying to keep my body under control, because it is a long week out here. Q. In match play even more than stroke play, there seems like there's one moment of truth where you either dig deeper and gut it out or you just back off or whatever. What was your moment of truth this week? Was it somewhere during that Jimmy Walker match? GARY WOODLAND: Yeah, absolutely. The bunker shot I hit in the playoff against Jimmy was one of the better shots I hit in a long time. It was 40 yards on that first hole. And I just give them away the last hole to get into the playoffs. It was a shot that Jim McLean and I worked hard on the last couple of weeks, and to pull it off under pressure was huge. And then to make the putt and get away with that match, I've been playing pretty well since. Q. You said you were driving pretty well today or just really this whole week. That stinger iron shot that you've been hitting has been pretty consistent. Talk about how important that's been this week. GARY WOODLAND: That's huge. I use that a lot most weeks. Out here this is a golf course that sets up very well for my driver. I've hit a lot of drivers. On the back nine when I've had leads it's huge to get the ball in the fairway. Today it was getting told. This afternoon it was tougher to make birdies on the back nine. Trying to get that ball in play and make him come out and make birdies, it was key to put the ball in the fairway. That stinger gets out there far enough where I can hit mid‑irons into the greens. Q. Just so you put so much pressure on him early, the two par 5s early, how big is that for you in the setup and getting out to a good start? GARY WOODLAND: It's huge. The first hole sets up really well for me. I'm hitting middle iron where a lot of guys are hitting hybrids and long irons. I've had some success there. You come to 5 and it's a long hole where I can get home, where a lot of guys can't. Had the tee up today which allowed some guys to get up a little closer. But that's two holes where I feel like I have a huge advantage early in the round and get up early and put pressure on guys, and I've done that so far this week. Q. You played basketball at a pretty high level. You played basketball before turning your attention to golf. Is there some way that golfers are wired differently than other athletes where they are willing to grind out matches, rounds, when maybe the only thing at stake is pride or professionalism? GARY WOODLAND: Yeah, I mean I think the difference in golf compared to everything else, it's all on you. And there's a lot of pride involved because you see these guys every week. You don't have anybody to lean on. It's all on you, whether you win or lose, you're going to have a lot to talk about in the locker room afterwards with a bunch of guys. My bracket this week, Jimmy and I are really good friends. I worked with Butch I was around Jimmy all the time. Poulter lives down the street from me. And Webb and I played amateur golf. There's a lot of pride because I don't want to lose to guys that are good friends. Maybe you can needle them later down the road. I don't want to lose to anybody, a friend of mine or not a friend of mine. I want to come out and here and beat everybody in front of me. Q. How much has your work with Jim those couple of days in Florida last week, how much has that helped, specifically with the release pattern, eliminate the left side, taking out the hook, and just the angle of attack working with Jim last week? GARY WOODLAND: Yeah, it's been huge. To get down there and just fine tune some things. I felt like at Augusta I was playing good. I struggled with the driver that week. But I felt like I was coming along. To take two weeks off was a big key for me. Sometimes you keep playing week in and week out and you can't make changes, you can't adjust to what's going on. Two weeks allowed me to get my body right and allowed me to fine tune some things, we've only been working a little over a month. Two weeks was huge to get down there and work with him. I came away with a lot of confidence. Played well last week at home before I came out here, and I continued that. I played well in the practice rounds this week. It's been good. Q. Just a quick follow, I think lost in all the conversation about Miguel and Keegan what happened yesterday they were both 0 & 2 and playing a match that to the outside world looked rather meaningless. What did you take away from that and does that get to the core of what you were saying? GARY WOODLAND: I love it. I wish there was more of that out here. It's nice because you've got two guys that obviously there was a lot on the line. Obviously they were frustrated by the way things were going. And nobody wanted to let up. I don't think either one of them was in the wrong. Miguel had his right to go over there. Keegan had his right to stand for what he believed. They duked it out and they figured it out and they've moved on. But the key was they both fought for what they believed in. I don't have a problem it. It spices up this game a little bit. It's a long week. It's nice to talk about something else besides golf. Two guys going at it is a pretty good thing. Q. You talked about Augusta and then taking two weeks off and talked about working on different things. But mentally how important was that two weeks off, as well, because obviously you had a pretty bad stretch at the end and didn't make the cut? GARY WOODLAND: Yeah, the two weeks mentally was huge. Because I played four out of five going into Augusta, which was a lot for me. That's the first time I played four in a row since the playoffs last year, I think that's the only time I did it last year. I don't like to play that much. I was frustrated because I felt like I kept making the same mistakes, week in and week off. To take time off and go correct those things was huge, both physically and mentally. Q. You said you had a ticket to the fight. A lot of the players are apparently at this fight. Is it the event that draws you or is the boxing that is the attraction? GARY WOODLAND: Both. I've been to a big fight before. I've been to a Pacquiao fight before, the energy in that arena is unbelievable. Nothing like it. You have two guys waling on each other. I love every second of it. It would have been cool to be at. I'm excited that I'm here. If I ever was going to miss it I'm glad to be playing. I'm looking forward to watching it, for sure, it will be a great event. Q. There's nothing at golf that can come close to that energy? GARY WOODLAND: Maybe you're leading Augusta with a couple of holes left and maybe Schwartzel birdied four in a row and the energy, and that's got to be unbelievable. Nobody is going to knock your brains out, nobody is going to lay you out, which could happen pretty easily tonight. Q. Following up that theme part of the energy you're talking about, being in a building like that is the theatrics of it, as well. Do you think you could benefit if you could have theme music when you came to the first tee, or an entourage, have you ever thought of what that would be like? GARY WOODLAND: Yeah, you know, I played basketball in college, I was around that energy. I was around that atmosphere. And that's what I miss. I miss the noise, the excitement. I think the only place we really have that out here is 16 at TPC. And even that can get carried away at times. A basketball game, it's always loud. Out here it gets quiet sometimes. Guys probably wouldn't be used to that. Q. What would be your theme song? GARY WOODLAND: That would change week to week, you know. Probably a lot of anger going in that first tee, probably throw some hip hop out there or something. Q. This week? GARY WOODLAND: This week would be, yeah, it would definitely be hip hop. We're angry out there, we're trying to beat everybody out there they put in front of us. There's nothing nice going on. CANDACE REINHEIMER: Thank you for your time. Good luck tomorrow. GARY WOODLAND: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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